This invention relates to a device and system for wireless communications with a circuit breaker, and more particularly, to a device and system that provides for the wireless communication of data from a circuit breaker which allows a user to determine the type and location of a fault.
Development of new “smart” circuit breakers will provide a significant increase in the level of protection over existing thermal circuit breakers. Recently, there has been increased interest in the development of the “smart” circuit breakers for use on aircraft and other vehicles.
The need for detecting passive failures and interrogating the circuit breaker for trip type and other advanced trouble shooting information without opening the circuit breaker panel and when still powered is very desirable. Most aircraft panels contain placards that instruct the technician to remove power before opening the panel. If a circuit breaker is to be tested or diagnosed in the panel, it must remain powered.
In addition, typically a pilot of an airplane or other vehicle is not interested in knowing the cause of the fault that caused the circuit breaker to trip. All the pilot must know is that the circuit breaker has tripped and to leave the diagnostics to the maintenance technician on the ground.
It may also be advantageous to log in operating parameters for a given circuit breaker circuit. For example, a health monitoring system may be possible whereby a motor load may be tracked. This may include monitoring and recording the inrush and run current and this information may be reported to the maintenance crew during scheduled maintenance. If the current is rising over time, it could indicate bearing wear or some other type of abnormality. For example, an electronic motor that may control the control surfaces of an aircraft could be monitored. This would allow the maintenance crew to perform preventative maintenance before a failure occurs, which could result in the loss of the aircraft.
The type of trip may not be important to the pilot but the maintenance technician needs to know the type of fault. The device will be able to tell the technician if the event that triggered the device was thermal, arc or ground fault or other yet to be determined fault. Future diagnostics may include (but not limited to) arc fault location, ground fault location, health monitoring of the load and the like. A Built-In-Test (BIT) circuit can be incorporated into the circuit breaker to detect and communicate passive failures during maintenance cycles.
Clearly, there is a need for a device and system that can allow for the communication with a “smart” circuit breaker that would allow for the quick determination of the fault type. In addition, there is a need for a “smart” circuit breaker that could be configured to record and report on various vehicle operating parameters that may be used to determine maintenance requirements.